Largo Winch

"A short but interesting adventure game"

Story: 8

Largo Winch, a name pretty much unknown outside of France and a few other European countries. Largo Winch is based of a french comic serie. It's about a boy, Largo, a Yugoslavian orphan who gets adopted by the world's most wealthiest man, Nerio, who needs an heir to his empire. But at 26 years of age his father dies under mysterious circumstances and Largo inherits the Winch corporation, or Group W as it is called. A financial empire worth over 100 billion dollars

The game starts of with you, Largo, being at a charity event where you've announced a shipment of 70.000 tons of milk for humanitarian aid to a small country in eastern Europe. But the festivities are cut short when Sharon Green, the person in charge of Group W's communication, needs to meet you without delay. And you're informed about a scandal that's occurred in one of your agricultural labs in Mexico. Where two guards have been killed and a scientist have mysteriously disappeared, as well as experiments been conducted that's condemned by Group W.

That is the staring plot of the game, and you'll go into a twisting ride that will take you from New York to Mexico, to the cold Siberia in Russia, to your own island Sarjevane and more as you try to find out the mystery behind the experiments conducted and find out if someone's trying to frame Group W before it's to late.
The story is nicely done and gets you hooked pretty quickly and keeps you on the edge until the end of the game as it all unfolds.

Gameplay: 7

Largo Winch: Empire Under Threat is an adventure puzzler. Much in the same manor as Monkey Island and such games. Where you walk / run around and pick up things that you need to solve problems to progress through the game. But the main problem is that this game is much to linear, there's never any back tracking needed to other parts. You are basically placed in one area and confined there until you manage to solve everything that's needed, then you're shipped away to another area. And Largo also carries a small palm pilot that gives you clues of what he might need to do. So the challenge is very minimal in most places of the game.

But the game also features combat sequences, which they've made into a turn based affair where you select which enemy to attack, select what type of attack. And then the enemy does the same until either they or you die. And yes, you can die. So saving often is a good idea when you think you're in a dangerous situation, but it doesn't happen very often.

The game also features several small mini games, a basic slider puzzle and a poker game. Neither are very thrilling. But also contains a small hacking game which is quite fun at first, but sadly turns pretty boring after a while since the computer is easily fooled or tricked.

Another thing that irritates me are that some puzzles are completely idiotic, specially one at his island where you'll say to yourself ''Now what was the point in placing that thing there in the first place?''. Also that some of the items you need are so extremely well hidden or so small that it's almost impossible to spot or blends in to much with the background. Making it frustrating to walk around in small movements to see if Largo turns his head and looks at something you can't otherwise see. Which have made me being stuck at certain places for ages since I can't find a certain item melded into the background color.

Some things are also less thought out in the game, just minor things. Like when you're at an island that's been deserted for a while, but somehow there are still candles in the wall burning. Sometimes when you cut down the power to something, the lights and computers in that room still works perfectly.

Graphic: 9

The graphics are very well done, and all in 3D. The characters contains a good amount of polygons. Sadly some textures on some persons looks horrible though. The backgrounds are very nicely done and adds a good atmosphere to the game, either if it's in a run down russian apartment or on a sunny island. Sadly, the FMVs in the game aren't of the highest standard. They are not as crisp and clear as you'd wanted them to be.

Sound: 6

Music is okey, it's suitable at first but after a while it gets very repetitive and dull. And all dialog is spoken, which is a good thing. The voice actors themselves do a pretty good job. But one thing that plagues the voices are that they sounds very much like they're reading straight from a paper. The sync with voices and characters mouth movements are horribly as well. Sometimes the characters mouth stops moving but the voice is still talking. And sometimes it's vice versa. Mouth keeps moving but voice have stopped. Not much of a problem though.
And the game comes with both english and french voice track.

Lifespan: 4

This is where it turns bad. The game is short, sadly very short. With no backtracking and an extremely linear gameplay it goes quickly to progress through the game. And don't expect it to take more then 10 hours to finish the game. For myself it took around 7 hours without the help of any guides and such, and then I didn't even try to rush myself through it.
And once I completed it. I had no feeling to start playing it again. You've already seen almost everything of what the game have to offer. There's no hidden endings or such. Just walk through, solve the exact same puzzles in the exact same manner again.
But the play though the game was enjoyable and the plot was interesting to follow as it was unfolded.
But in the end it feels like they could have done much more. A few times through the game you can decide on certain business choices. If you'll invest in a company or not. To pull out of a deal and more. But sadly these decisions have no real effect on the game play at all.

Rent or buy: Considering this is a game only released in Europe for the Gamecube, renting it is out of the question for most people. And getting a hold of it outside Europe is an expensive affair. So I would only suggest buying this if you're a big fan of Largo Winch comics or puzzle adventures. And even if you're a huge puzzler / adventure fan, this title might disappoint you with the linear playstyle and short life span.
But if you live in the US and desperately wishes to try this game, I suggest renting it on the PS2 since you'll complete it in a day.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/11/03